Photoshop is the most popular image editing app out there and GIMP is the best free alternative to it. Choosing which one to use isn’t always easy. Most people don’t want to spend money on an app if they don’t have to, especially when it involves paying monthly.

Which app is right for you depends on what you need it for. Let’s have a look at who should use GIMP and who should use Photoshop.

If you’ve gone to the effort of setting up your own Linux machine, you’ve more than demonstrated you can handle the vagaries of open source software, and especially, open source forums. There’s a good chance you’re against the idea of paying for software when there’s a decent open source alternative so GIMP is definitely the app for you.

Use Photoshop If You Love Your Phone

Over the last few years, Adobe has really begun to develop tools for smartphones. Their first apps weren’t particularly good (largely because the phones just weren’t powerful enough) but their latest attempts are great.

Lightroom Mobile brings most of the best features of Lightroom to your smartphone. Photoshop Fix and Photoshop Mix put some of the most useful Photoshop tools at your fingertips. Even better, with the Adobe Cloud, all the work you do on your mobile syncs back to your computer.

If you take loads of photos with your phone or want the ability to work on the go, Photoshop — along with all the extra apps it supports — is the better choice.

Use GIMP If You’re on a Budget

While Photoshop isn’t an expensive app — Photoshop and Lightroom together cost just $10 a month — it is an ongoing commitment. If you don’t need what Photoshop offers or only use it occasionally, it can be hard to justify the expense. There are plenty of other awesome ways to spend ten dollars that can offer far more bang for your buck.

Yes, almost anyone can stretch to paying ten dollars a month for a tool they use every day, but if you don’t use Photoshop that much, or are conserving money for other reasons, then GIMP is the better app simply because it’s free.

Use Photoshop If You’re a Professional

If you can count Photoshop as a business expense, or even better, get your boss to pay for it, then it’s the obviously the tool to use. This is the category I fall into. The whole Creative Cloud costs me around €50 a month and I use many of the apps on a daily or weekly basis. While I haven’t (yet) convinced someone else to pick up the bill, it’s still a tax write off at the end of the year.

The best thing about being a writer is that almost everything can be a tax write off—all you’ve gotta do is write about it.

Adobe’s tools are also the ones of choice for other professionals. If you’re working with someone else, they might send you a PSD or other Adobe proprietary format. If you don’t have the tools to handle the files, you won’t be working with them very long.

It might be a little irrational to hate Photoshop because of Adobe’s other products but, if you do, then GIMP is obviously the better option.

Use Photoshop If You’re a Photographer

Editing is just one part of post-processing for Photographers; you also have to sort through however many hundreds of pictures you’ve taken. In a few hours shooting, I can easily capture 1,000 images. Many of them will be sketches or failed shots, but there will be at least five or ten images that are worthy of further attention.

With Photoshop you also get Lightroom which is the best app available for sorting through lots of images and pulling out the keepers. You also get a powerful RAW processor which you don’t get with GIMP.

For editing an image here or there, GIMP is fine, but if you’re a serious photographer then you need to invest in Photoshop and Lightroom.

I take it , Mr Blucher, you are being sarcastic. This is a most superficial, biased article. The only way to determine if GIMP meets your needs is to try it. Its not as if you're going to have to pay for it. If it doesnt meet your needs then pay up for Adobe. But dont base your decision on this article.

It's not about money !!
1000$ is nothing
it's all about ... is photoshop worth that amount of money ??
lets start
1- hard to use
simple copy & paste isn't that simple in photoshop ohh no ... it made me so angry I almost punched my 2000$ PC
also every tool has a freaking 1000000 features ... isn't that kind of over kill ?? I mean WHY ??
2- confusing
I was trying to make a skin sticker on photoshop ... the old picture of that sticker did not even change !! I mean WTF !!!
3- Masks
the only feature that draws me toward photoshop ... turned out to be a horrible nightmare

so at last ... after downloading the free copy
I wouldn't pay a freaking 20$ for it
unless your buying it to get devastated